Medical devices are known which utilize electrical potential to enhance drug delivery.
For example, medical devices are known which deliver drugs by iontophoresis, a process by which an electric field is used as a driving force to transport a drug into a subject. This technique typically requires two or more electrodes for creating an electric field as well as a drug that carries a net electrical charge at the local physiological pH.
As another example, medical devices are also known which rely on electroporation to enhance drug delivery to cells. The electroporation method uses short, high-voltage pulses to create transient pores in the cell membranes or in organelles within the cells. This transient, permeabilized state can be used to load cells and organelles with a wide variety of therapeutic agents, for example, genes, proteins, small molecule drugs, dyes, tracers, and so forth.